I protest a lot about the idea of vegetables as a main dish, but I confess I really do like fresh veggies on the side–if they’re done well. And since we’ve been trying to eat more healthy meals in our household, I’ve been very lucky that even in trying to serve our kids healthy meals, they are remarkably enthusiastic about properly prepared vegetables, too. They even like broccoli–and this grilled broccoli is one of our new favorites.
Growing up, I only ever had broccoli boiled, with goopy cheese sauce on it. If it wasn’t overly boiled, it wasn’t bad, and it was at least fresh broccoli, and not frozen. I learned pretty early in my cooking life to steam the broccoli rather than boil it. It was harder to turn to mush, and it preserved more of the vitamins and minerals I’m told exist in broccoli. But still, it was pretty bland without a cheese sauce of some sort. Later I started cooking it in stir-fry as well, adding another way to eat broccoli with lots of flavor to our repertoire.
Last year, we discovered a way to roast broccoli, that made it healthy and tasty without the need to add any goopy cheese sauce. But during the hotter days of the summer, we were looking for ways to avoid running the oven at 450 degrees, and given my proclivity for outdoor grilling, we started looking for a good recipe for broccoli on the grill. Our initial thought was simply to use the same recipe as the roasted version, but I needed to find a grilled recipe to use as an example for how long or how high it might be cooked that way. But while looking for some guidelines on-line, I found a very tasty looking recipe that we’ve now very moderately modified and have done several times to our great satisfaction.
- 4 Cups broccoli crowns
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice (or juice of one lemon)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- ¼ Tsp salt
- ¼ Tsp ground pepper
- ¼ Tsp red pepper (optional)
- 2 Cloves garlic, minced (optional)
- ⅓ Cup grated parmesan cheese (or to taste)
- Mix lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes in gallon-sized resealable bag.
- Add broccoli crowns and mix in bag, coating thoroughly. Let stand for 30 minutes.
- Add parmesan cheese to bag, and mix thoroughly. (NOTE: Lately, I add the cheese after it is on the grill, and then a little more after stirring it, if necessary)
- Lightly spray a grill wok or grill basket with oil
- Pour broccoli mixture into wok or basket on gas grill set to low heat, or indirectly on charcoal grill at medium heat.
- Cook covered for 6-8 minutes, stir (or flip basket), and cook for another 6-8 minutes. It is done when bright green and has areas that have started to brown.
- Serve with something worthy of its greatness.
You probably really could use our roasted broccoli marinade on the grill as well, following the vague grilling instructions above.
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